2013-47 (November 21, 2013)
Event, attendance/appearance;
Social Activities; Ordinary Social Hospitality
Rules 1.2, 3.1 & 4.1Issue: May
a Judicial Official attend a holiday party hosted by
a municipality’s governing body? The Judicial
Official would be paying the full cost to attend and
the holiday party is not a fund-raiser.
Additional Facts: The Judicial Official was invited
to attend a holiday party at a restaurant hosted by
a municipality’s governing body (the equivalent of a
town council) which consists of members of both
major political parties. Although hosted by the
entire governing body, approximately one half of the
members of the governing body typically attend.
According to the Judicial Official, the event is an
annual holiday party and guests include local
officials, both elected and appointed, state
legislators who represent the municipality, former
members of the governing body (the category in which
the Judicial Official falls), the leadership of the
local chamber of commerce, some business leaders,
attorneys and other professionals, along with
spouses. Party guests include people of all
political affiliations and those with no political
affiliation at all. The Judicial Official stated
that the party is a social event and not an official
governmental function. The Judicial Official has
been invited to the party for many years prior to
being appointed a judge.Discussion:
Rule
1.2 of the Code of Judicial Conduct states that a
judge “shall act at all times in a manner that
promotes public confidence in the independence,
integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary, and
shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of
impropriety. The test for appearance of impropriety
is whether the conduct would create in reasonable
minds a perception that the judge violated this Code
or engaged in other conduct that reflects adversely
on the judge’s honesty, impartiality, temperament,
or fitness to serve as a judge.”

Rule 3.1
(3) of the Code prohibits participation in
extrajudicial activities “that would appear to a
reasonable person to undermine the judge’s
independence, integrity or impartiality.” Comment
(2) of Rule 3.1 encourages judges’ participation in
both law related and other extrajudicial activities
because it “helps integrate judges into their
communities and furthers public understanding of and
respect for courts and the judicial system.”

Rule 4.1(a)(5) of the Code states that a judge shall
not “attend or purchase tickets for dinners or other
events sponsored by a political organization or a
candidate for public office.”

The Code
defines “political organization” as “a political
party or other group sponsored by or affiliated with
a political party or candidate, the principal
purpose of which is to further the election or
appointment of candidates for political office.”

Based upon the information provided,
including that the holiday party is being hosted by
a municipality’s governing body and is not being
sponsored by a political organization, the Committee
unanimously determined that the Judicial Official’s
attendance at the holiday party would not violate
the Code provided that the hosts and the
municipality do not have any matter pending or
regularly appear before the Judicial Official. The
Judicial Official’s prior association with the
municipality’s governing body, the fact that the
Judicial Official is paying the full cost to attend,
and that the dinner is neither a fundraiser nor a
lavish event, are factors that, in combination, make
the governing body’s invitation an exercise in
purely social hospitality.

In
reaching its decision, the Committee took into
account its prior opinions in:
JE 2010-08 (Judicial Official may attend
retirement party for prosecutor whom Judicial
Official knew prior to appointment to the bench);
JE 2008-16 (Judicial Official should not attend
small family law firm’s five hour holiday party on
board a river boat cruise ship where only select
Judicial Officials were invited, it was likely that
those attending the party would have cases pending
before the invited Judicial Officials, and the venue
made it impossible to leave if the Judicial Official
believed that the nature of the event became
compromising);
JE 2009-04 (Judicial Official may spend several
days with close personal friends, who are lawyers,
at the friends’ vacation home provided that the
Judicial Official continues to recuse himself in
cases involving the friends, these recusals are
infrequent, and the Judicial Official has extended
similar hospitality to the friends);
JE 2012-01 (Judicial Official should not attend
retirement dinner hosted and paid for by the former
partners of the retiring lawyer, who regularly
appear before the Judicial Official);
JE 2013-07 (Judicial Official should not
participate in small social outing organized by the
spouse of a foreclosure firm attorney whose cases
make up a large portion of the Judicial Official’s
docket);
JE 2010-33, (Judicial Official could purchase
tickets and attend a dinner sponsored by the
University of Hartford to raise funds for the
Governor M. Jodi Rell Center for Public Service,
where politically active individuals will be
present, because no political parties were involved
in co-sponsoring the event); and
JE 2012-21 (Judicial Official may attend a small
gathering at the home of a relative so that a
retiring political official can thank the hosts and
guests for their prior support because the event was
not a fundraiser, was not sponsored by a political
organization or a candidate for public office, and
did not involve a public official who had any matter
before or likely to come before the Judicial
Official).